Dance piece performed in museums in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh

Now Claxton is back, and taking over some of Scotland’s finest cultural spaces. During the course of three weekends, she and her company (embellished by five dancers from China) will surprise museum-goers in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh with new work, Chaos and Contingency.

‘I’ve created the piece with the intention that the audience can enjoy the material from above,’ explains Claxton. ‘So I’ve chosen venues that have the capacity for balcony viewing.’

Exploring the interplay between science and art, Claxton’s choreography has been inspired by mathematical rules and patterns -- hence the need to view from above. But fears that we need to go along with prior knowledge of fractals or cellular automatons are, happily, unfounded.‘No one viewing needs to understand the rules or the maths at all,’ assures Claxton. ‘It sounds complex, but it’s really just patterns that emerge and change as a result of simple rules and variations. But people are invited to simply enjoy the wonder of patterns evolving and dissolving, with some truly glorious dancing.’

The seemingly divergent worlds of math and art merge in this nine-dancer piece based on the study of mathematical patterns. Small variations create big changes, revealing simultaneous simplicity and complexity in one work.